Islanders resist reach of Canberra

At a time in living memory, pupils at the Norfolk Island Central School were caned for speaking in their native Norfolk Island tongue, and in last year's federal stimulus package that same school missed out on the skill-building program because the islanders did not pay income tax to the Commonwealth.

With Commonwealth proposals to wind back the island's autonomy and bring it back, in the eyes of many residents, to their semi-colonial past, tensions between islanders and Australia have become inflamed again.

Norfolk Islanders have had a testy relationship with Australia at least from the time the Pitcairn Islanders took over in 1856. That testiness was not helped by such things as the language ban, as Brent Hattersley, a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian, recalls, when ''we had to get away from our teachers so we could talk to each other''.

The Norfolk Island Act of 1979 gave the islanders a large measure of self-government, with a legislative assembly, a chief minister and an executive council of four. Most islanders say that has worked just fine.

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Now the Territories Law Reform Bill, which has been put out for public comment, seeks to impose greater federal control over the island's affairs. These include Commonwealth ministerial veto powers, the right to introduce its own legislation to the island's Legislative Assembly, and executive authority for summary dismissal of ministers and the assembly.

Among numerous provisions, the bill removes the ability of the island's legislative assembly to select its ministers and allocate them portfolios and the Commonwealth would take a far greater role in administration, such as appointing a Commonwealth financial officer for the island.

Some 2000 permanent residents of the island, half of whom are Pitcairn descendants, raise their own taxes and with that financial base, as well as earnings from tourism, the airline and other government businesses, they manage their health, social welfare, tax and workers compensation.

But they work on a tight margin and residents are not immune from taxation by the Commonwealth, through the GST, earnings in Australia and earnings such as house rent when they are temporarily off the island.

The global financial crisis has hit the tourism market, which has fallen 25 per cent since 2000-01. The Norfolk Island ALP leader, Mike King, says the Norfolk Island-run airline, Norfolk Air, lost $3.7 million in the last financial year and expects to lose $3.5 million this financial year.

King says because of this and declining fortunes in a range of government businesses such as Telecom, the airport business, the postal-philatelic business and even rock sales, the island's liquid assets fell from $12.6 million in the last financial year to $223,000 this year. It means that spending on infrastructure, which was 12 per cent of the budget in 1978-79, is now zero.

Denise Quintal, the founder of the environmental group, EcoNorfolk, believes there are serious problems on the island, compounded by lack of transparency, annual reporting and access to the Ombudsman.

She believes islanders should be able to take advantage of Commonwealth laws to cover areas of concern such as mental health, gender equality, child protection and racial discrimination.

''Although the island and a number of people who have the power would like to retain the status quo, it is not accepting the responsibility for the whole island, just those that are in their group,'' Quintal says.

The island's Chief Minister, David Buffett, says he does not think the situation critical and the majority of islanders want to maintain the existing system, but allow for adjustments. The way forward is consultation between governments, he says.

Buffett says a broad-brush approach, as proposed in the bill, was not the right solution. ''To just transpose all those things that happen in Australia to a small population in a small place will not necessarily be compatible,'' he says.

In 2006 the then Norfolk Island government assured the Howard government that things were in hand. With Rudd in power, Norfolk Labor made a bid for government in last month's election. But only one of the four candidates, King, got a seat.

Despite that, and the apparent vote by islanders against the ''big government'' concept associated with Labor, Norfolk Labor believes there is room for more intervention.

The party's senior vice-president, Malcolm Snell, says there has been ''gross and ill-considered spending'' in recent years, which had depleted the public account and undermined the capacity to maintain existing public services.

Peter Maywald, a former secretary to the Norfolk Island government, says the bill, which gives the minister for home affairs the right to veto an island-made law and to propose legislation of his own to the Legislative Assembly, is ''unnecessary'' and ''cooked up by the left wing of the Labor Party''.

''The island is a model of Liberal dry philosophy. It does not toe the line and the ALP government does not like the model they have got there. I came up through a Labor background and I know that the ALP is surprised that it actually works in a small community.''

Maywald says he does not believe the laws will have much effect ''on the ground'' but it is a power to ''wave over the Norfolk Islanders if they step out of line''.

GOVERNING NORFOLK ISLAND

1774 Captain James Cook discovered Norfolk Island.

1790 - 1814 First convict settlement on Norfolk Island, under administration of the governor of NSW.

1825 - 1855 Second convict settlement, under the governor of NSW.

1856 Settlement by Pitcairn Islanders, replacing free settlers who had been ordered off the island. It became a colony separate from NSW but still under the administration of the NSW Governor.

1901 After the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia, Norfolk Island came under the administration of the Commonwealth as an external territory.

1979 The Commonwealth of Australia granted Norfolk Island limited self-government, under which it elected a government to run most of the island's affairs. The islanders were not subject to Australian income tax and were not represented in the Federal Parliament.

2006 The Federal Government undertook a formal review, with the objective of revising the model of government on the island, but it was decided that there would be no changes.